


Oceans Rise

by thekindworthreading



Category: Hamilton - Miranda
Genre: Alternate Universe - Merpeople, Angst, First Meetings, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Mermaid!Alexander
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-29
Updated: 2020-07-29
Packaged: 2021-03-06 00:48:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,175
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25594537
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thekindworthreading/pseuds/thekindworthreading
Summary: Alex gets caught in a fishing net and fights for his life, but despite all his struggle, he gets washed ashore. Now he has to do anything to get back into the ocean, before a human finds him, because they are known to keep mermaids and sell them.
Relationships: Alexander Hamilton/George Washington
Comments: 16
Kudos: 48





	Oceans Rise

**Author's Note:**

  * For [gagakuma](https://archiveofourown.org/users/gagakuma/gifts).



> Long time, no see. I had a work accident and sprained my wrist, which meant I couldn´t write without pain and it was horrible, but I had a million new ideas and that is one of them. I should be back to posting stuff again now, and I am so glad that I am able to write without too much pain again!

Alex doesn´t really know how it happens. One moment he is swimming mindlessly, and the next he feels his tail getting caught in something. There is a surge of panic going through him and he jerks around, which only causes the rope to dig painfully into his flesh. Alex lets out a hiss and bends down to get his tail free, his heart beating loud and fast against is rib cage. The movement causes him to lose balance and he feels the ocean throwing him around, which only increases his panic. He needs a moment to steady himself, before he is able to bend down again and that´s when he notices with a start, that it´s not a simple rope that´s wrapped around his tail, but a fishing net.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck.”, Alex mutters.

He tries to steady his trembling hands, before leaning forward again to grab end of the fishing net. He manages to get hold of it, but at the same time a wave crashes into him, pushing him forward. He lets out a yelp, doing his best to get control over his body again, which is harder than he thought, because his hand got caught in the fishing net as well, during the sudden movement. For a moment, Alex closes his eyes, trying to calm himself down and get steady again, which doesn´t work that well, before he makes his next move to get free.

He knows the tales of other mermaids that got stuck in a fishing net and either drowned, got attacked by predators or washed ashore, but he tries not to think about that, instead concentrating on unwrapping his arm. The current is making it hard to control his movements though and Alex can feel the panic taking over.

He knows that he should remain calm and think his actions through, but he _can´t move_ and the overwhelming need to get free drowns out everything else. As soon as he starts trashing around, Alex knows that this has been a mistake. The rope cuts even deeper into his skin – on his arms, chest and tail – and he knows that he is bleeding even before he smells it. It hurts like nothing Alex had ever felt before, a hot white burning, and he can barely supress a pained scream. His struggle against the fishing net only increases, all coherent thoughts drowned out by his panic.

When he feels the rope wrapping around his throat, he lets out a scared whimper, doing his best to still his movements. Alex presses his eyes close, hoping that this will help him to calm down a bit, but his whole body still trembles as he gets thrown around by the sea. There is nothing he can do to get out and there is no one around to save him. This is not how he´d imagined he´d die. This is not how it was supposed to go.

Alex doesn´t know when he loses consciousness, but when he opens his eyes again, everything is far too bright, and he has to close his them again. He still isn´t able to move, the fishing net still wrapped tightly around his body, but at least he doesn´t get tossed around by the ocean anymore. He doesn´t know if that´s a relief or another thing to worry about, but for now he is glad that that isn´t out of his control anymore.

It takes him some time to be able to open his eyes, the sun still hurting with how bright it is shining. Just like he thought, he is lying on a beach, which causes another wave of panic to surge through him. It is well known that mermaids that get washed up on land, and are found by humans don´t have a great fate; they get sold to collectors or scientists or even kept as pets. He shudders at the memory and tries to move, but that only causes the fishing net to cut deeper into his skin and he lets out a pained groan. There are tears gathering in his eyes because of how desperate he feels.

_There is still time. No one has found me by now. There is still time._

Alex takes a deep breath – or as deep as the rope allows him – to calm himself down, before he carefully moves his right arm as much as he can. He grits his teeth against the pain, blinking the tears away that are obscuring his vision. He can only move it a few centimetres, until the pain gets unbearable, so lets it fall to his chest again, concentrating on moving the left one, that is painfully twisted. He can´t help the agonized cry as he starts to move it, which causes a hot, white pain to shoot up his arm. His vision goes black for a moment and bile rises in his throat, though he manages not to throw up.

It takes him a moment to come back to himself again, the tears now falling freely down his face. He feels helpless and so utterly alone, the nearby crashing of the waves mocking him with how close his freedom is. He is far too caught up in his self-pity and panic, that he only notices the man, when he is kneeling down next to him. Alex lets out a panicked screech and tries to squirm away from him, but all it does is cause him more agonizing pain.

“Hey, it´s alright. I won´t hurt you. I want to help you.”, the man says, but Alex doesn´t believe him a bit, and keeps squirming, even as he feels the rope cutting even deeper into his flesh.

“My name is George.”, the man continues, but Alex doesn´t want to listen. “Keep still, I´ll try to free you, alright?”

When the man – George – reaches out to him, Alex lets out a hiss, baring his sharp teeth to appear dangerous. It doesn´t seem to work though, because George still moves forward, carefully touching his arm. Alex tries to keep his composure and show the human that he should be scared of him and not the other way around, but he is terrified and can´t help the tremble that has taken over his body.

“I know you must be scared, but I just want to help you.”, George says softly.

Alex desperately wants to believe him, but he has heard enough stories, and he isn´t foolish enough to give into the hope that he has the luck to meet the one human that isn´t like all the others.

“What´s your name?”, the man asks, but Alex only hisses at him again.

He keeps on talking to him, while carefully tugging on the rope, which increases the pain and causes Alex to let out another whimper, cursing himself for the tears that are streaming down his face. George keeps on tugging at the fishing net, and all Alex wants is for him to take his hands off of him, but there is no way to escape, so he just waits until he can move his hand a bit more easily, before he swings at George. It doesn´t work as well as he had hoped, and he only manages to leave a small scratch on the other man´s arm, but at least he can see a flash of fear in George´s eyes now, even though he doesn´t back off.

“You are hurt, and I am only trying to help you.”, the man says once more, but Alex keeps trying to scratch him, even though the movement causes him pain.

After watching him for a moment, he moves back a bit, regarding him with a thoughtful expression. Alex keeps fighting against the ropes holding him down, but he can already feel himself getting exhausted. He knows that he can´t keep this up for much longer anymore and the realisation fills him with dread. George just keeps watching him, until he stops moving. The man waits a few moments, making sure that Alex won´t try to attack him again, before he gets up and carefully lifts Alex. Alex feels almost sick with panic and trashes around, but the other man seems to be stronger that he appears, because he keeps him restrained almost effortless.

“I know how scared you are, but I´m just taking you home to help you. As soon as I get this fishing net off you, you´re free to go.”

Alex doesn´t believe him at all, but there is nothing he can do, so he just hides his face in the other man´s shirt, to keep him for seeing him cry, both from the pain of the movement and how terrified he is. He can barely comprehend that this is happening, far too scared to make any coherent thought.

It doesn´t take long until George enters a building with him, and Alex has to admit that it feels great to be out of the sun, even though he is still terrified. He gets placed on a soft surface, but he still lets out a groan of pain. An almost apologetic expression passed over George´s face, but Alex is sure that he is only imagining it.

“I´ll get something to help me cut you out of this, okay? Don´t do anything stupid.”

The man hesitates a moment, before he walks out of the room. As soon as Alex is alone, he starts squirming on the bed, trying to get away, while doing his best to keep quiet. He somehow manages to get to the edge of the bed and is about to fall down onto the floor, when two hands catch him.

“Do you want to get hurt even more?”, George asks. “I told you not to do anything stupid. How did you even plan on escaping?” He shakes his head, an almost sad smile on his face.

Alex knows that he is right, as much as he hates to admit it, but how could he have not tried to escape? How can he just stay here without fighting for his life? He is still debating with himself, when he notices the knife that George had dropped, when he had caught him. He feels his body going stiff for a second, before he starts trashing again and he almost doesn´t notice how the fishing net is cutting him even deeper.

“Stop. I said I want to get you out of this. You are only hurting yourself more.”

He barely hears the words over the rushing in his ears and the voice screaming that he has to get away from here. Just like on the beach, though, it doesn´t take him long to exhaust himself. When his movements die down, except for the trembling, he starts to cry softly, not even caring about keeping up appearances anymore. He closes his eyes when he sees George picking up the knife, hoping beyond hope that this is all just a bad dream. He had always been afraid of death, ever since he first experienced it and now that his life is almost over, he is frozen in terror.

“I won´t hurt you.”, George repeats for what has to be the hundredth time, but Alex still doesn´t believe him. How could he?

He lets out a whimper when he feels the knife gliding over his skin, but instead of the anticipated pain, Alex feels the rope around his chest getting looser. It takes him another minute or so, until he dares to open his eyes, and even as he watches George skilfully cutting through the fishing net, he doesn´t dare to move a muscle.

It takes George almost an hour to get Alex disentangled, and even when the last piece of rope falls away, Alex remains completely still. He has decided to trust George for the time being, even though he is still wary of his motives. He allows himself to relax the tiniest bit, finally looking away from the other man´s face, to his own body. He is in agony and the picture that he is presented with endorses that. There are dozens of cuts and burns on his chest, arms, and tail, blood seeping out of most of them and ruining the soft sheet he is lying on.

“Hey,”, George says softly, and Alex turns his head around to him. “I will patch you up, alright? I know you don´t trust me, but I really want to help you.”

Alex just stares at him for a few moments, before he nods slowly. George lets out a soft sigh and gives him a small smile, before he gets up.

“I´ll get bandages, don´t do anything stupid, you hear me, rebel boy?”

Alex has to do his best not to smile back, his cheeks flushing hot at the nickname, but he manages another nod. George turns around to walk out of the room and Alex watches him go. He considers trying to get away again, now that he is able to move, but he thinks George was right in saying that he´d only hurt himself more, and as much as he hates to admit it, the state of his body suggests that he needs to accept the man´s help. He is still in agony and the sight of the blood makes him feel a bit lightheaded, and he is secretly glad that he is lying down and not the one in charge of handling his injuries.

George comes back some time later with a box in his hands, giving Alex a warm smile.

“Glad to see you didn´t attempt another stupid escape, where you´d have just hurt yourself more.”, George says mockingly, but his voice is soft.

Alex still glares at him and would like to make a smartass remark how he would have managed to escape if he wanted to, but he remains stubbornly silent.

“Don´t give me that look, you know I´m right, rebel boy.”

Alex shakes his head, which causes George to let out a quiet laugh. He sits down on the bed next to Alex, who lets out a groan of pain as the mattress tilts and causes him move.

“Sorry.”, George says quietly.

Alex closes his eyes for a moment, breathing through the nausea, that has suddenly overtaken his body. He feels like throwing up, but somehow manages to get past it, slowly opening his eyes again. He catches George looking at him with open worry and averts his eyes again, because it is kind of hard seeing the other man as the enemy when he is looking at him like that.

“Do you need a moment or is it okay if I start treating your wounds?”, George asks, and Alex shrugs, but he looks up at him again.

George regards him for a few seconds, before he opens the box and takes out a few things, Alex has never seen before.

“Okay?”, George asks, and Alex nods reluctantly.

“I´ll clean your wounds first and put ointment on the burns alright? This will probably hurt a lot. Then I will put bandages on them.”

Alex lets out a huff, but doesn´t stop George when he picks up a piece of cloth. He watches him with a hint of suspicion, but there seems to be no secret plan George is working on. George puts on some liquid onto the cloth, before he locks eyes with Alex, hesitating a moment, but when the merman doesn´t say anything, he presses the cloth to a cut on Alexander´s chest. The liquid stings and causes Alex to tense and he lets out a hiss, as tears well in his eyes.

“I know it hurts, but we don´t want the wounds to get infected.”, George says apologetically, but stops for a moment.

Alex takes a few deep breaths and nods, signalling George that he can continue. Cleaning and dressing the wounds takes even longer than cutting Alex out of the fishing net and the sun is already setting outside, when George is done with it. He has stabilized his left arm with a stick, saying that it appears to be broken, even though Alex refuses to believe it.

“I can bring you back to the ocean if you want to, but I think you should stay here a bit longer, until the worst of your cuts is healed.”, George says and Alex just stares at him.

He hadn´t believed that George would actually offer to bring him back, even though he told him that, so he hadn´t thought about how he would even get back home.

“Should I bring you back?”, George asks, and everything in Alex screams that he should say yes, but something makes him hesitate.

“I promise, you can go back anytime, I won´t force you to stay here.”, the man says after what feels like an eternity.

Alex searches his eyes for a lie, but he doesn´t find one. He still hesitates a few moments, until he nods slowly.

“You will stay here?”, George asks, and Alex nods again, hoping that he isn´t making a big mistake.

George gives him a warm smile, softly touching his arm.

“It´s okay. No need to look so scared. I´m pretty sure you could fight me, even with one arm broken, rebel boy.”

That causes Alex to nod and grin, showing George his rows of sharp teeth.

“I´ll get you something to drink and eat, alright? I´m sure you must be hungry.”, George says and gets up, when Alex nods.

He comes back a few minutes later with the promised food and drink, putting the tray onto the nightstand to be able to help Alex into a more sitting position. The movement causes him to let out a groan of pain, but it´s not as bad as before. George stay with him while he eats the fish and talks about how he caught it and a few other things. It´s not the best one Alex has ever eaten, but he appreciates it, nonetheless. Once he is finished, George eases him back into a lying position and Alex notices how incredible tired he is, though sleeping scares him a bit. George seems to pick up how exhausted Alex is, because he gets up and closes the curtains.

“You look like you need some sleep. Just call if you need anything, alright? I´m in the room next to this one.”

He waits for Alex to nod, before he walks over to the door, turning around one last time.

“Good night, rebel boy.”, George says with a smile.

Alex knows he´ll regret this, but he just can´t hold it back anymore.

“Alex. I´m called Alex.”

**Author's Note:**

> Tysm for reading! Please let me know what you thought of it in the comments. You can follow me on tumblr @whatdidimissjm and if you have anything you´d like to see me write, you can request it there! :)  
> If you like my writing you can also buy me a coffee! https://ko-fi.com/whatdidimissjm ♡


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